Notre Dame swimmers make a Mega splash

~ The Bulldogs won 11 of the 12 events in the season-opening meet

Caleb Heisserer has done just about everything there is to do in a swimming pool.

Entering just his second year as a member of the Notre Dame Regional High School boys swim team, Heisserer, a senior, has won his share of events while competing in dual meets, quads and invitationals. He was also a member of the Bulldogs' 200 medley relay team that competed at the state meet last fall.

About the only thing he hadn't done was compete in the diving events.

Until this season.

"I think it's fun," Heisserer said of his decision to try the event competitively for the first time. "I wanted to do it last year but I wasn't able to. But we got it together this year."

So Heisserer began to practice diving -- five days before Tuesday's Mega Meet at the Central Municipal Pool. He wound up winning the 1-meter diving event, leading the Bulldogs to a lopsided victory over three other teams.

"He came in and already had the fundamentals of a lot of the dives," said Heisserer's diving coach, Bill Geiger. "You could tell he's gone off the board before. He came in with some knowledge of the dives."

Heisserer admitted to "fooling around" with diving while working summers at the Jackson City Pool. But he hadn't really learned the intricacies and technical aspects of the various dives before working with Geiger.

"I just tried to [learn them] in practice," Heisserer said.

His athleticism helped -- Heisserer is also a member of the Bulldogs' wrestling program. He performed well on all five dives, including a difficult forward 1 1/2 with a full twist.

"I was pretty happy with how I did," Heisserer said.

So was his coach.

"No one does that [dive] the first time, and he just went out and did it," Geiger said. "Now we just have to work on cleaning it up."

Heisserer's win was one of 11 first-place finishes by the Bulldogs in 12 events as Notre Dame scored 449 team points. Jackson was second with 252, followed by Central at 221 and Saxony Lutheran with 17.

"We put our top guys up early on," said Notre Dame coach Jameson Kuper. "We're a very deep team with 20 good swimmers. All of them will be contributing in a number of meets."

Along with his diving win, Heisserer placed first in the 50 freestyle in 24.81 seconds and was a member of two winning relay teams -- the 200 freestyle relay, which won in 1:44.59, and the 400 freestyle relay, first in 3:31.64.

Other multiple winners for the Bulldogs were senior Zach Smith, first in the 200 individual medley [2:09.96] and 100 butterfly [55.54] as well as two relays, the 400 freestyle and 200 medley; and senior Jackson Voss, who won the 200 freestyle [1:57.77] and the 500 freestyle [5:10.38] and also swam in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Junior Ben Tlapek also swam on two winning relays teams, the 200 medley and 200 freestyle.

Jackson junior Austin Hobbs prevented a Bulldogs sweep by winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.83.

"I was excited he got that," Jackson coach Carole Baugh said. "He also swam the 200 IM and had a 2:12.06. That's close to his best time he ended the season with last year."

Though Central failed to win any events, coach Dayna Powell was pleased with how her squad competed.

"I was really pleased with some of the swims," she said. "Nothing really surprised me. And the weather was great!"

Cape Central Mega Meet

Team scores -- 1. Notre Dame 449, Jackson 252, Central 221, Saxony Lutheran 17

Individual results

200 medley relay -- 1. Notre Dame (Ethan Pobst, Ben Tlapek, Zach Smith, Jackson Voss) 1:49.28; 2. Jackson 1:59.94; 3. Notre Dame 2:01.28.

200 freestyle -- 1. Voss ND 1:57.77; 2. Alex Snyder J 2:05.96; 3. David Carmen ND 2:16.65.

200 IM -- 1. Smith ND 2:09.96; 2. Austin Hobbs J 2:12.06; 3. John Young C 1:28.47.

50 freestyle -- 1. Caleb Heisserer ND 24.81; 2. Christian Retter C 24.83; 3. Jack Gard J 25.95.

1-meter diving -- 1. C. Heisserer ND 165.65; 2. Brandon Price J 145.55; 3. Zach Flath J 126.95.

100 butterfly -- 1. Zach Smith ND 55.54; 2. Young C 1:05.53; 3. David Carmen ND 1:08.68.

500 freestyle -- 1. Voss ND 5:10.38; 2. Gard J 5:31.27; 3. Snyder J 5:55.38.

200 freestyle relay -- 1. Notre Dame (C. Heisserer, Tlapek, Sam Shaw, Mitchell Heisserer) 1:44.59; 2. Central 1:45.50; 3. Jackson 1:58.21.

100 backstroke -- 1. Pobst ND 1:02.63; 2. Snyder J 1:08.18; 3. Joe Matthews ND 1:11.12.

100 breaststroke -- 1. Hobbs J 1:10.83; 2. Tlapek ND 1:15.33; 3. Lucas Hurley ND 1:15.58.

400 freestyle relay -- 1. Notre Dame (Smith, Voss, Pobst, C. Heisserer) 3:31.64; 2. Jackson 3:59.62; 3. Notre Dame 4:05.00.